Stoves by the Tubmakers

I knew about Tubmakers since my mom had purchased both of her gas fireplace inserts there years ago and had a good experience. When I decided to convert my wood burning fireplace to gas, I headed over to Tubmakers to see what the options were and ask questions. They were so helpful in addressing all of my questions and concerns that I ended up going ahead with my order then and there. They are very clear that they contact out the installation work to a third party, and got Moises (the installer) on the phone while I was there. He was able to come to my home the next day to measure and make sure that the insert that I liked was going to work, and gave me an estimate. He also remembered that he had installed one at my neighbor’s house across the street. I went ahead and placed my order by phone with Dan back at the shop — it takes about a week for the order to arrive. Moises called and scheduled for a Sunday (love that he has weekends available for installs, since I work the M-​F, 9 – 5. I didn’t have to take time off work to be there). The actual work took about 5 hours, and Moises and his crew were clean and respectful of my home. They also were kind enough to remove the hideous travertine hearth and didn’t charge extra. The entire experience was really great and I am loving having an energy efficient fireplace that I can turn on and off by pressing a button!

based on Dan’s reply and to give him the benefit of the doubt, I think their problem was with their installers who they told me they vouched for explicitly but who turned out to be flakes. I had my own people do it and it is true that the tub was delivered when my people were ready to go and the tub works fine. but this was after 6 months of back and forth with them. They wouldn’t give me the $ 500 rebate coupon until I paid the 50% balance following delivery and by then it had expired! no rebate for me!

Bought a hot tub about a year ago from Berkeley Tubmakers on Ashby. Salesman Sean was very helpful as was owner Dan. I never felt pressured as I was at other stores. Went back a few times before deciding which make/​model I wanted to buy. Went back today for some supplies for my hot tub and was greeted by Dan who remembered me by name and was again helpful and friendly.

The owner worked with us on a wood burning stove and we are really pleased with service, installation and have no complaints Was pleasant and straight and to the point experience which I appreciate

We have been shopping around for a gas insert., and ready to buy. The owner waited on us today, who was as others describe… BEYOND RUDE.
If I am going to drop $ 4k + I at least want good customer service.
We did not buy here, and would not recommend this place.
It makes you wonder how you would be treated if you had a problem with the product!

The Bullfrog Spa is a terrific product. Money well spent.

My tub will be delivered this week and so far I have had a great experience with Tubmakers. Several months back when I started looking at tubs, I walked into their showroom and spoke with Sean. I was just starting to think about getting a hot tub at the time and was really impressed with the information and the lack of pressure to buy. A few months later, I inquired again speaking with Dan the owner. It being a big purchase for me also started looking on Craigslist for a «deal.» After finding a «deal» and then finding out about how many problems I hadn’t considered, plus how much more energy efficient new tubs are compared to older ones (monthly heating costs), I realized a new tub, with warranty and personalized customer service was worth the upfront cost as apposed to paying part by part to repair someone elses old tub. Dan has been great, and I have been a reasonable customer — as in, I ordered a tub and waited for it to arrive without complaining. Dan let me know he’s had the company for two years, maybe the previous owner deserved the comments on here, but my experience has been great. I’ll update if my experience changes after delivery, but I think I’m going to be pleased.

I recently bought a Bullfrog hot tub from Tubmakers/​Berkeley Heat LLC. The experience was so horrible that I’ve made arrangements to work directly with Bullfrog’s tech department in Utah, if there are any other problems while the tub is under warrantee. If need be, I’m willing to pay a third party rather than deal with Tubmakers ever again.

I’ve now had experience with I think three gas fireplace installers in the Bay Area-O’Kell’s in SF for our house in Piedmont (gave me a detailed bid for a fireplace combination that did not exist, and did not realize it until all the pieces were arrayed in my living room), Shamrock in San Rafael for a Regency fireplace in Inverness (all went well though my contractor arranged the installation), and these guys.
I think the Tubmakers (now called Berkeley Heat?) did the best job.
O’Kell’s contracts out the installation job, but doesn’t really tell you that. Yo write one check, etc. They had an install coordinator who was here for part of the time, but the actual installers – those with the fireplace that in no way matched the order numbers on my estimate – were from a different firm. They were understandably clueless about the problem («we only install what they hand us in the morning»), and there wasn’t a good process to address this bad hand-​off situation. At the end, I told them to take everything out of my house, thank you. They made me whole on the financial front. It took a few days for them to realize (ah-​hah!) that they had given me a bid for x but had delivered y, and that was in part because x didn’t exist.
The Tubmakers are very explicit about their arm’s length relationship with their installation folks – two checks, two appointments, etc. I ended up having two independent contractor guys referred by them come through the house to check on the installation options (slightly complicated arched and shallow fireplace) and both completely knew what they were talking about. The second guy did the installation, his fabricated surround (like a decorative flange that covers the gap between the insert and the brick fireplace) didn’t quite fit. He said he would come back with a replacement flange, but never has. It’s a small thing, but I think about it every time I start the fireplace.
In addition, the fireplace I got for the arched fireplace was actually second hand. It’s EXACTLY what I wanted – no curlicues, and so on, and the owner read my mind and said, «come back here and look at this one I pulled out of a client’s house.»
Today, I called them because the Regency (a brand they don’t sell now) in a rental we have wasn’t working. I was prepared to pay them to come and figure it out, but the guy said «oh, I remember you. Here’s the problem, I’m sure. The battery in your zapper is fine, but the batteries in the remote connector inside the insert are dead. Replace them and it will be fine.»
I followed the idiot proof directions, did that and sure enough, $ 3.49 and I’m good to go.
Thanks Tubmakers/​Berkeley Heat!

I purchased a Regency gas fireplace from Tubmakers. Don, the owner, provided good advice and information prior to purchase, and they have many functioning models on display so I could visualize exactly what I wanted in my home. Delivery was reasonable, and when a part was missing, Don was able to get it for me promptly. After installation I changed my mind about 2 features, and he gave me a refund on the spot when I returned the parts.
No pressure, convenient parking behind the store.

I was initially going to write a review with 1 star, but that was before I found out the old Tubmakers went out of business and the new owner really helped me out.
I bought a fireplace for $ 4000 2 – 3 years ago. It worked great for the first year, but then started turning off at random. I went in to Tubmakers to get it fixed since its still under warranty. They told me to contact the contractor who installed it, which didn’t make much sense to me. But I called the installer and he said he would call me back and fix it. Well he didn’t, so I called him again, and he said he would call the company and call me back. He never did, so I called Tubmakers and they said the same thing, to call the installer. I got so frustrated, but at the same time, I had a new 6 month old baby who was crawling around, so I didn’t use the fireplace for the next 1&½ years. Well I tried it again finally, and it was working worse than before. So I went back to Tubmakers pissed off as hell. But I found out the business closed and there was a new owner, Dan. I thought I was screwed (again!), but even though he had nothing to do with the sale from 2 – 3 years ago, he tried to help me out. He made a phone call, and a guy came out the next day and fixed it, for free.

I bought a fireplace from them 10 years ago and it was a horrible experience. The owner sold it me, we put it in and have had nothing but trouble with it since. Get help from him? No way. Call the company. Call the distributer. He never returned calls and when I finally went in he saw me and shut the office door. He didn’t give a … about me once he got the sale. Never, I mean NEVER, patronize these high priced, do nothing crooks. Oooops, is that libel? I don’t think any court would consider that so after hearing the huge number of dissatisfied, harassed, ignored and ripped of customers. Dealing with him and his crew was one of the worst experiences I have had in years.
If they are out of business, good for them.

I paid $ 10,000.00 for a Dimension One spa and tens of thousands for a third storey deck to place it on. My contract included delivery and installation. I received a frantic phone call from a staff member telling me that they were going out of business and I needed to have the tub delivered right away. The spa was left in my front on the city street but they did not install it. I now am being asked to shell out $ 3500.00 to get a crane to lift the spa onto my deck. I will still need to find someone to install the thing.
Tubmakers is a horrible experience. The staff is trying to buy the name and reopen, but they aren’t returning calls. I’ll be posting their full names as well soon, just so you know that they are not trustworthy no matter where they work.

I purchased my hot tub at Tubmakers for $ 5000. Spent on and off another $ 1500 or so on parts for repairs, supplies, etc. over the next ten years.
REcently, when I really needed help by phone, I got none from Tubmakers. Four times I called them asking them to help me identify, then sell me a $ 500 part I needed to fix my spa. Each time they said their parts person would call back. Then they never called back. The fifth time I called they said call on such and such a day and hour when the parts person was in. I did. And was told the parts person was out, but would call back. Guess what? No returned call.
HOWEVER, when I showed up AT Tubmakers of Berkeley, on this and other occasions, I received what I felt was conscientious and indeed extremely good support in finding parts, ordering parts, and xperienced their tech /​parts people providing freely advice that was genuinely very helpful to me in keeping my tub running.
So… I’d say this is a mixed review. I’ve seen some of the problems others report here (tho none of the outright lying, bait and switch, etc. that others claim) but also have had… at least in person… good experiences with this outfit.
—marty

So our old hot tub died We went searching and believed the tubmakers would sell a decent product and provide support We wanted to spend our tax dollars locally instead of in Marin County.
the salesman tried to convince us we had a deal (it was not a deal, but a price within our range) and promised quick delivery. We went ahead and signed thecontract for $ 4000 because we are ancient, ache a lot, and wanted to be able to ease our bones.
We expected the tub within a week or two, as we had been assured by the salesperson. .Over one month later,
. after trying to track down our order and threatening to cancel it, we learned the tub had been in the warehouse for two weeks. The salesman had disappeared for the period of time we tried to find out when we might get this tub. We finally talked with the delivery coordinator, who was the one to teltel us the tub had BEEN SITTING in THE WAREHOUSE FOR TWO WEEKS. The tub finally got delivered and the person who set it up said we did not need the new plug which came with the tub. But, the outlet we already had forced us to turn everything upside down to connecvt and thus lost its water protection. We needed the outlet that had been delivered with the tub.
Ivan at Tubmakers was pleasant, came out to show us how to change th filter, and promised that Cesar would iinstall the grounded unit. Over a week later, Cesar showed up in thr pouring rain @ 6:00 whan he had been scheduled to come @3:00. We tried to make his life easier and said to come back another. day in the light and less stress. Never happened. Three weeks later, called Cesar: he said the company would send someone else.
Here we are, three month later and the hot tub is fine, but what was promised was never delivered and we would undertake root canal rsurgery before we would deal with this company again. Go to Costco for your hot tub.
ps. I tried to cal l them to leave a message and the voice mail simplywimped out. I think they are going bankrupt.

I bought a tub kit here and was told that if I had extra staves, to bring them back and they would trade them for tub supplies. I had some trouble with the tub because the floor leaked and the boards would not swell to take up the gaps. Finally, I emptied the tub and used silicone caulk. I took the stave’s back to Tubmakers and a different person was there. He took the staves and told me he wouldn’t give me anything for the staves. «All extra staves belong to Tubmakers» he said. I tried to explain the situation, but quickly realized that this was a coordinated screw job.
Soon after I posted here, I began getting messages from a Unilocaler who is apparently some type of customer service representative for TM. The core of their replies (redacted for brevity) «LIAR-​SCUMBAG, You are nothing but a liar and a scumbag and I promise you I will find you… You better remove your false, and fraudulent smearjob lie, or I will make you sorry… Coward, Liar… You a lying… a little pathetic coward… your sick little mind… scumbag»

Such behavior is meant to intimidate anyone who leaves bad reviews. How many other bad reviews have they been successful in having people withdraw? Do some positive reviews reek of collaboration? You be the judge!

I bought a gas stove from TM’s about two years ago. I dont remember much about the experience. I think I went there because it was close and the sales guy was willing to answer more questions about installation (which I did myself) than others stores I checked out:
I recently decided to purchase a stove for second room and read the scary comments in Unilocal about TM’s. So I checked around with other shops before my purchase including a visit to:
Superior Spas -
Buck Stove —
…/​
and a call to Okell’s
…/​
I liked «Reggie» at Superior a lot. Knowledgeable, direct, helpful. His son was great too. Just the kind of family business you want to do business with.
The guy I spoke with at Okells was great too. Very knowledgeable, honest (said that while they didnt carry the brand we were looking for, that the one they sell was similar in quality and that all things being equal, we should go with a closer shop).
Bucks was OK but I was turned off by a sale price in their store being more than my first retail quote from others. If it is not cheaper than others store dont call it a sale.
We purchase from TM’s despite the warning here. While tubmakers has room to improve on the customer experience (call dropped a few times in the many calls I made there, gruff phone handling, no hours on the website!) the sales guy, Dan, was free with his knowledge, had the best price, got the stove to me a week earlier than promised and even gave me (for free) a small ($ 20) piece of equipment rather than make me return to the store once I was already loading in the warehouse. He also called an installer for me to answer some technical questions I had (I installed the stove myself).
All in all, I would have to say I got great value or the price. I am very satisfied with my two experiences at TM.
¼/​2008 — Update. OK so I finished installing the stove and had about $ 200 in unused parts (needed to buy extra as I didnt know exactly what I would need). I brought the extras back to Dan and he said that my credit card would be credited on Monday (it was Sat). I thought to myself, here is where I will be burned. Well, I wasnt. A check arrived in the mail on Wed.
All in all my experience with TB was exceptional and I highly recommend them. The whole reason for sites like Unilocal is separate the diamonds in the rough (with good prices too).
I have been back here a few times since for little things. I am picky about customer service and I find that I like this store. I am suspicious about the other reviews for this sore.

Do not do business with this company! Not only are they rude, they kept promising to return my calls but never did. I was attempting to get my deposit back for a fireplace insert which we could no longer afford. The sales person assured me that I could get my deposit back.
I finally got Jack on the line today because I threatened to have my bank do a charge back. He rudely told me to do what I needed to do and hung up.

We purchased a hot tub from Tubmakers just over a year ago and have no complaints whatsoever. From the initial purchase, arranging set-​up and delivery, service issues through to routine care and maintence requests they have been prompt, courteous and professional.
Our salesperson was knowledgeable out the brands they carried, and helped us make the right purchase decision for our family. I didn’t feel pressured to rush my decision or get anything more than what we needed.
After we purchased our tub, our salesperson gave us a list of contractors to do the pre-​installation work (foundation, electrical, etc.). I got independent bids for the job as well, but found the contractors recommended by Tubmakers more qualified for the job and more reasonably priced.
The installation went smoothly, and Ivan came out to our house to show us all of the features of our tub and explain care and maintenance. A few months after installation, we had a problem with a defective control panel in the tub, but Tubmakers sent their repair person out with a replacement part immediately.
I would definitely recommend them if you’re shopping for a new hot tub, or need someone to service your tub.

Some of the worst customer service I have ever recieved from a company. And never have I been lied to so many times by one company.
I put a depost on a hot tub that they said was in stock and I could pick up the next week. Well over 1 month later and multiple phone calls it still was not ready. I talked to the rude receptionist there and was contstantly put in voice mail boxed never to have a call returned.
Sean who sold me my tub, was alway not in or unavailable. Finally I was on my cell phone headed over there and asked to talk to Sean, once again he was not in. Well I arrived inside the store within 5 minutes and low and behold, he apparently just waked in.
Sean assured me that there is phone service for anyone that wants to assemble the tub themselves, another pack of lies from what I have seen so far.
Even then it took an additional 3 weeks to be able to pick up the «in stock» hot tub.
Well now I am at the point of assembly and have placed over 5 calls today and no return phone calls. They actually gave me one time the number of the man that make the tubs and he told me that the parts I am missing should have been supplied by Tubmakers.
Any way a day wasted with my contractor and still no phone calls returned, as of today no one but the Receptionist and Sean, who have been busy all day can help me or return phone calls.
Ken Dean